Adventures of fly angler in Poland

 Today Vah river section between Ivachnova and Besenova looked better.  The water was still colored, but clarity about 1 m. River level at Besenova 37 cm, temperature 16 C.  I started fishing from the pool near white bridge in Ivachnova. It is one of the biggest pools in the C&R river section, and it is a home for many big fish. In the beginning fishing was slow. No activity in 40 minutes. Then I got a strike. Fish was strong, and probably big. I think it was a rainbow trout. After short fight, the tension released. I pulled out the rig, and found that the bottom nymph was torn out. What a disaster! First fish, and it's gone.   There were no other takes in this pool. I moved to the other side of the river. There is main current, separated from slow and shallow river part.  Current seams are one of the most trout holding water. The place was just perfect for euro nymphing. I got a strike, and it was rainbow again. Not very big, probably 40-45 cm. But it ...

 This summer I planned a trip to Belgium, to fish for barbels in Ardennes region. But, most rivers in Ardennes closed for fishing until September, due to low water conditions and high temperatures. So, I spent my vacation mostly without fishing, engaging in other sports: running, hiking, orienteering. On my last week, I decided to visit Slovakia for 3 days. I started from river Vah near Ruzomberok. When I arrived in Ivachnova early in the morning, I noticed that water was dirty and colored after recent rain. Clarity about 50 cm near Besenova hotel. Level 35 cm. This river part didn't look attractive. I decided to fish lower C&R section in Ruzomberok, because the river is more shallow in this part, and water clears itself a bit after few kilometers downstream. I started to fish deep and fast riffle section below the weir.  Soon, I got some decent fish. It was a great fighter. Due to heavy current , it was hard to pull fish against it, so I ran downstream and netted it 20 m ...

 Trout season on Vah closed in the last day of September. So I tried to catch the last train. The river level at Besenova was 53 cm and temperature 15 C. It looks like ideal water level.  I arrived at 7:00 and bought a license in the Korchma Ivachnova. In this trip, I took my new rod Ego Competitor 10'/2wt (really it is 3 wt). I assembled two my euro nymphing rods to compare them. First location is deep pool near the town hall. The main current goes along the bank, and this spot is quite long and deep. 2 years ago, I caught there 8 rainbows in one hour or so.  But this time, there were no strikes. I tried different nymphs. In 30 minutes or so, I got a nice rainbow. The fish was strong, and jumped few times. I allowed it to play a bit and calm down, then grabbed in the net.  The bite was on small "raczki" (cryfish) nymph on hook size 18 and 2,5mm bead. Raczek(Crayfish) is an original Polish style of nymphs. It does not imitate crayfish, and the size is usually small. ...

An Indian summer arrived to Europe. After two weeks of rain, the weather became sunny and warm, with day temperatures up to +24 C. This is usually one of the best seasons for fishing. Unfortunately, trout season in Poland has ended with last day of August. So I booked a 3-day trip to Slovakia. There you can fish for trout for the whole September, and in certain waters - even until December. Of course it means really fishing for rainbow trout and grayling, because brown trout spawning in October and November, and targeting them considered illegal or non-ethical.  At 7AM I arrived to river Vah , to the village Ivachnova. The lady in the convenience story, who also sells fishing licenses, recognised me. Maybe because im fishing in river Vah for 5 years. I got license for Jambor Weir stretch, it considered "grayling" water, but there's diversity of fish species - two types of trout, grayling, barbel, nase, perch, and rarely - Danubian salmon. The river level at Besenova was h...

September is the last month, when we can fish in most of Slovak trout and grayling rivers. I decided to give a visit to Slovak river Vah , first time in this year due to COVID, which disrupted many fishing plans and trips. I arrived early at 6:00 AM to the license shop in the village Ivachnova. I had plenty of time to assemble my rods and dress up in waders and boots. The shop owner, a lovely lady, arrived at 6:40 AM. Water was low 35 cm in Besenova, and quite warm, +16 C The first hour I spend with Euro nymphing, using various nymphs. Nothing. Looks like a dead river. Quite unusual, because I usually had trout bites in this place.  I crossed the river to the other side. Fished along the edge of the fast and slow current.  No bites at all. My polarized glasses fogged. It ended up in the wading incident. I tripped over a rock under the water, which I didn't see, and I fell into the river. All my clothes became wet, water penetrated inside waders, and even to my baselay...

Vah river in Slovakia is quite famous for it's big rainbow trout, willing to take dry fly. In previous year, I had couple of outstanding trips on Vah, both in terms of numbers and quality of fish.   This year I had far less fishing trips, and overall not very successful. I came to the river early in the morning. It was cold, air temperature +3 C. But water was still warm, +15 C. River level was low, 35 cm at Besenova station. I started with euro nymphing gear in the rapids.  Very fast water section , which creates pockets near the bottom, with slow current, or even backcurrent.  Big trout often stay in such bottom pockets. The only way to reach them in water like this is super-heavy Czech nymph. Tuck cast with super-heavy piece of tungsten, and nymph penetrates through the broken surface to the bottom in seconds, before it washed away by current.  Usually, if fish is hanging under the rapids, it reacts immediately. Couple of casts, and I got a fish. I...

I planned short vacation in Slovakia. Two days I spent hiking in the mountains. One day I devoted to fishing on river Vah. Conditions were perfect - 46 cm at Besenova and 16,6 C temperature. First, I started at Besenova stretch. This river is famous for big rainbows. So I expected to catch few of them, especially on dry fly.  There was almost no takes on nymph. Only two small fish. I moved to Hotel Summit bridge.  There I spotted one decent rainbow trout, just under the bank. It was eating small insects from surface.  I tried to approach it with dry fly. Fish was very close to the bank, and in shallow water. I positioned myself, so fish don't see me. I made few casts, without reaction. Fish was still there, but I wasn't sure where exactly. I returned to the bridge and spotted this fish again. It moved a bit farther upstream. Probably disturbed by my casts.  I changed my position to upstream from fish.  I cast my fly few times downstream. Once fish struck i...